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Hundreds of high school students across the Chicago area walked out of school Wednesday, joining a national movement of young people mobilizing in a passionate response to the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

Students from Schaumburg High School participate in a walk out on Feb. 21, 2018, following last week’s fatal shooting in Parkland Fla. The students are apart of a national movement demanding action on gun control. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Students from Schaumburg High School participate in a walk out on Feb. 21, 2018, following last week’s fatal shooting in Parkland Fla. The students are apart of a national movement demanding action on gun control. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

A cupcake food truck owner who believes Chicago’s regulations — including a rule requiring mobile vendors stay at least 200 feet away from bricks-and-mortar restaurants — are unconstitutional is asking the Illinois Supreme Court to take up her lawsuit.

A Moorish idol, left, and a blue-spotted spinefoot, center, swim in a large tank at the Shedd Aquarium in advance of their display in the 'Underwater Beauty' exhibit, currently under construction.

A Moorish idol, left, and a blue-spotted spinefoot, center, swim in a large tank at the Shedd Aquarium in advance of their display in the 'Underwater Beauty' exhibit, currently under construction. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

On the heels of its successes with special exhibitions Jellies! and Amphibians, the Shedd will announce Thursday the next one, a multi-species, multi-environment celebration of the visuals that thrive below the surface of the water, “Underwater Beauty.”

Opinion

We are witnessing a political uprising against Speaker Madigan by a force he cannot ignore and may not outmaneuver: Female Democratic politicians have begun telling Madigan his promises to change the culture in Illinois aren't enough.

Business

In a whopper of an accounting misstep, Edward-Elmhurst Health overestimated by $92 million the revenue it expects to receive from insurance companies and patients, delivering an unexpected blow to its bottom line.

Uptake Technologies is bringing in a former General Electric executive to serve as president of the data analytics startup. Ganesh Bell, who served as chief digital officer at GE Power, starts in his new role at Uptake on Monday, spokeswoman Abby Hunt said. Bell will report to CEO and co-founder...

The Chicago Reader is casting a “broad net” in its search for a new top editor following the ouster of Mark Konkol after one issue at the helm, Edwin Eisendrath, CEO of parent company Sun-Times Media, said Tuesday. Konkol’s departure was announced Saturday amid a controversy over the cover art...

Entertainment

Erik Killmonger's reign on the Wakandan throne was short-lived, but he is now the undisputed king of MCU antagonists. There's Killmonger, and then there's everybody else. There was a time when debating the greatest Marvel Cinematic Universe villain of all time before "Avengers: Infinity War's"...

In the popular culture and various corners of our own lives, we confront the unknown in one form or another, learning something about our own fears and desires. The examples defy rational explanation. The Monolith in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The Mist in Stephen King’s novella. The Smoke Monster...

Considerations of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. will be increasingly in evidence as the nation approaches the April 4 50th anniversary of the assassination of the civil rights leader, with his legacy intact but his work still undone. A powerful new exhibit at the Chicago History Museum provides...

Sometime in the mid-1980s, writer Keith Huff found himself at what is now the Brown Line station near Lawrence and Western avenues. As he was walking up the stairs to the platform, he heard a loud pop. When he arrived, he saw that a CTA worker had fallen onto the tracks. He was sitting on the rails,...

Life & Style

Living the single life doesn’t come cheap. Think taxes. Think health care costs. Think a slew of household expenses siphoned from one income. And then think the house itself. According to a new analysis from Zillow, the real estate website, it takes single homebuyers more than twice as long as...

I knew my son was sick when he didn't want the iPad. Normally, my energetic toddler would have been begging to get his sticky fingers on the screen, but when I set it down next to him, he didn't even reach for it. Later that night, I asked the urgent-care doctor if it could be the flu. She looked...

Sen. Bernie Sanders is planning his next move. At least on paper. The Vermont independent and 2016 presidential contender is working on a new book. The publisher tells The Associated Press in a Wednesday statement that "Where We Go From Here" will be released Nov. 13 by Thomas Dunne Books. Sanders...

Blue Sky

By looking at the human eye, Google's algorithms were able to predict whether someone had high blood pressure or was at risk of a heart attack or stroke, Google researchers said Monday, opening a new opportunity for artificial intelligence in the vast and lucrative global health industry. The algorithms...

I’m the head of marketing for a 950-person consulting firm. I’m also the mother of a 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son. Both roles are demanding, challenging, and enormously fulfilling. I’m committed to each of them. And I’m not willing to sacrifice one for the sake of the other. This is not...

Apple's annual software upgrade this fall will offer users plenty of new features: enabling a single set of apps to work across iPhones, iPads and Macs, a Digital Health tool to show parents how much time their children have been staring at their screen and improvements to Animojis, those cartoon...

I conducted a social experiment and asked the question, “How are you?” to several individuals of different ages, career fields, socio economic backgrounds, geographies, and perspectives. The people I queried all responded with some variation of how busy they were. Their responses were stress-filled...

RedEye

Garrett Popcorn will pop into Wrigley Field this season as part of a new partnership with the Chicago Cubs, the company announced Wednesday. Garrett will become the “Official Gourmet Popcorn Sponsor” of the lovable losers, as well as a team partner. That means the popcorn will be available at Wrigley...

Autos

The 2018 Ford F-150 has just the right balance of capability, comfort and convenience to make you feel that what you want is what you need. That is the success story of America’s best-selling vehicle for nearly four decades: to convince the market that want and need are the same. I know I’m not...

Like a February snowstorm, the Chicago Auto Show blew into town with great hullabaloo then seemed to fade. But the biggest weekend of the 110th installment of the nation’s largest and longest-running auto show is this weekend. The show, which closes at 8 p.m. Monday, has had plenty of highs and...

Most read stories this hour

Cheers to life — seriously. When it comes to making it into your 90s, booze actually beats exercise, according to a long-term study. The research, led by University of California neurologist Claudia Kawas, tracked 1,700 nonagenarians enrolled in the 90+ Study that began in 2003 to explore impacts...

Seated between teenage survivors of the Florida school shooting, President Donald Trump said during an Oval Office listening session Wednesday that arming teachers and posting gun-toting veterans in schools could deter or stop school shooters. His comments came during an emotional meeting that...

Harvey Weinstein wants a judge to dismiss a federal sexual misconduct lawsuit against him and invoked the words and actions of Oscar-winning actresses including Meryl Streep in his defense. Lawyers for the disgraced film mogul said Tuesday in federal court in New York that the proposed class-action...

She’s a hashtag; she’s a meme. Chicago fashion blogger Hoda Katebi’s response to a WGN-TV news anchor who told her that she doesn’t “sound like an American” when she criticizes U.S. policy in the Middle East has been reported by media in Russia, England and Dubai. More than 10 million people have...

The parents of first lady Melania Trump have become legal permanent residents of the United States and are close to obtaining their citizenship, according to people familiar with their status, but their attorney declined to say how or when the couple gained their green cards. Immigration experts...

A man was arrested in Kankakee County after a 2-year-old boy was found dead, his throat deeply slashed, at his home in the Little Village neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, police said. Officers were called to the 2700 block of South Avers Avenue about 1:55 p.m. and found the child in a trash bag...

Billy Graham, the evangelist whose eloquent oratory and passion for Jesus attracted a worldwide following and made him one of the most influential and best-known religious figures of his time, was found dead Wednesday at his home in Montreat, North Carolina. He was 99. His death was confirmed by...

Jennifer Lawrence will wear what she wants to, gosh darn it. "Get a grip people," she wrote Wednesday on Facebook. "Everything you see me wear is my choice. And if I want to be cold THATS MY CHOICE TOO!" Lawrence's passionate post refers to a controversy surrounding an outfit she wore on Tuesday...

Kamala Harris, the Democratic senator from California, a former prosecutor, may one day be her party’s nominee for the presidency. And in the aftermath of the tragedy at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — where 17 students were killed by a madman with a gun — Harris said something...

Stephen Colbert would like to change the voting age. "Until we do something about guns, you can't vote if you're over 18," he said Tuesday night on "The Late Show." His quip references the campaigns for stricter gun control carried out by high schoolers in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were...

Noh Seon-Yeong's tears have mobilized the hosts of the Pyeongchang Olympics, marring the Games for a nation that prides itself on sportsmanship and civility. Noh, a long-track speedskater, cried in the infield of the Gangneung Oval Monday night after being humiliated by her teammates in the team...

Sometimes you can’t see what truly sparkles and shines for all the sequins and rhinestones. For those still obsessed with their hair and outfits, figure skating analysts Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir’s take on Bradie Tennell’s short program to open NBC’s prime-time Olympics broadcast Tuesday bears...

Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky will give back his Olympic bronze medal after failing a drug test at the Pyeongchang Games, a spokeswoman for the Russian Curling Federation told state TV. Krushelnitsky tested positive for the banned substance meldonium, which is believed to help blood circulation,...

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio was put on the defensive Wednesday by angry students, teachers and parents who are demanding stronger gun-control measures after the shooting rampage that claimed 17 lives at a Florida high school. One of those confronting the Florida senator at a CNN's "Stand Up" town...

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expressed bewilderment when he learned reliever Brandon Morrow discussed how the Cubs were dissected in the 2017 National League Championship Series. “He’s already giving away our secrets?” Roberts said Tuesday with a tone of amusement. But the Cubs’ big weakness was...

You might not have noticed what Dinesh D’Souza had to say about athletes on Tuesday. Like many others, you might have been reviled by the conservative’s author tweets mocking student protesters, some of them survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, to notice anything else. “Worst news...

Spilling out wrenching tales of lost lives and stolen security, students and parents appealed to President Donald Trump to set politics aside and protect America's schoolchildren from the scourge of gun violence. Trump listened intently to the raw emotion and pledged action, including the possibility...

A 30-year-old man is accused of fatally shooting the boyfriend of his children's mother last week in Gary, records show. Jason Ryan Burgess, of Gary, was charged this week with murder and attempted murder in connection with the shooting on Feb. 15, according to Lake County court records. Officers...

Erik Killmonger's reign on the Wakandan throne was short-lived, but he is now the undisputed king of MCU antagonists. There's Killmonger, and then there's everybody else. There was a time when debating the greatest Marvel Cinematic Universe villain of all time before "Avengers: Infinity War's"...

You could be suffering from thumb joint pain, but you still do not know what exactly brings about this painful condition to your body; this article will show you five of the main causes of this condition. Thumb joint pain will make your every day activity difficult. The obvious question you need...

Welcome, Parkland shooting survivors, to the ugly world of politics in 2018. In the aftermath of last week's school shooting in Parkland, Florida, some of the most powerful testimonies have come from the teenagers who survived the rampage. They have repeatedly detailed their harrowing experience...

Hundreds of high school students across the Chicago area walked out of school Wednesday, joining a national movement of young people mobilizing in a passionate response to the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. High school students from Schaumburg, Oak Park, St....

Flu has killed 22 more children, the most reported since the respiratory virus began slamming the country in the fall, according to a government report released Friday. The total number of flu-related pediatric deaths is now at least 84 nationwide. But other indicators from the Centers for Disease...

When it comes to guns, it often appears as though liberals and conservatives are speaking different languages. Liberals express their horror at each new mass shooting and demand government action, while conservatives call for “thoughts and prayers” and insist on respect for the Second Amendment....